Sierra Wireless HL8528 User Manual

Product Technical Specification

AirPrime HL8518, HL8528 and HL8529

4117047

2.2

December 18, 2015

Product Technical Specification

Important Notice

Due to the nature of wireless communications, transmission and reception of data can never be
guaranteed. Data may be delayed, corrupted (i.e., have errors) or be totally lost. Although significant
delays or losses of data are rare when wireless devices such as the Sierra Wireless modem are used
in a normal manner with a well-constructed network, the Sierra Wireless modem should not be used
in situations where failure to transmit or receive data could result in damage of any kind to the user or
any other party, including but not limited to personal injury, death, or loss of property. Sierra Wireless
accepts no responsibility for damages of any kind resulting from delays or errors in data transmitted or
received using the Sierra Wireless modem, or for failure of the Sierra Wireless modem to transmit or
receive such data.

Safety and Hazards

Do not operate the Sierra Wireless modem in areas where cellular modems are not advised without
proper device certifications. These areas include environments where cellular radio can interfere such
as explosive atmospheres, medical equipment, or any other equipment which may be susceptible to
any form of radio interference. The Sierra Wireless modem can transmit signals that could interfere
with this equipment. Do not operate the Sierra Wireless modem in any aircraft, whether the aircraft is
on the ground or in flight. In aircraft, the Sierra Wireless modem MUST BE POWERED OFF. When
operating, the Sierra Wireless modem can transmit signals that could interfere with various onboard
systems.

Note: Some airlines may permit the use of cellular phones while the aircraft is on the ground and the door

The driver or operator of any vehicle should not operate the Sierra Wireless modem while in control of
a vehicle. Doing so will detract from the driver or operator’s control and operation of that vehicle. In
some states and provinces, operating such communications devices while in control of a vehicle is an
offence.

is open. Sierra Wireless modems may be used at this time.

Limitations of Liability

This manual is provided “as is”. Sierra Wireless makes no warranties of any kind, either expressed or
implied, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or
noninfringement. The recipient of the manual shall endorse all risks arising from its use.

The information in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not represent a
commitment on the part of Sierra Wireless. SIERRA WIRELESS AND ITS AFFILIATES
SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM LIABILITY FOR ANY AND ALL DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL,
GENERAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES INCLUDING,
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUE OR ANTICIPATED PROFITS OR
REVENUE ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE ANY SIERRA WIRELESS
PRODUCT, EVEN IF SIERRA WIRELESS AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR THEY ARE FORESEEABLE OR FOR CLAIMS BY ANY
THIRD PARTY.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, in no event shall Sierra Wireless and/or its affiliates aggregate liability
arising under or in connection with the Sierra Wireless product, regardless of the number of events,
occurrences, or claims giving rise to liability, be in excess of the price paid by the purchaser for the
Sierra Wireless product.

Customer understands that Sierra Wireless is not providing cellular or GPS (including A-GPS)
services. These services are provided by a third party and should be purchased directly by the
Customer.

4117047 Rev 2.2 December 18, 2015 2

Product Technical Specification

SPECIFIC DISCLAIMERS OF LIABILITY: CUSTOMER RECOGNIZES AND ACKNOWLEDGES
SIERRA WIRELESS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR AND SHALL NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY
DEFECT OR DEFICIENCY OF ANY KIND OF CELLULAR OR GPS (INCLUDING A-GPS)
SERVICES.

Patents

This product may contain technology developed by or for Sierra Wireless Inc.

®

This product includes technology licensed from QUALCOMM

This product is manufactured or sold by Sierra Wireless Inc. or its affiliates under one or more patents
licensed from InterDigital Group and MMP Portfolio Licensing.

.

Copyright

© 2015 Sierra Wireless. All rights reserved.

Trademarks

Sierra Wireless®, AirPrime®, AirLink®, AirVantage®, WISMO®, ALEOS® and the Sierra Wireless and
Open AT logos are registered trademarks of Sierra Wireless, Inc. or one of its subsidiaries.

Watcher

Windows

Macintosh
countries.

QUALCOMM

Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

®

is a registered trademark of NETGEAR, Inc., used under license.

®

and Windows Vista® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

®

and Mac OS X® are registered trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other

®

is a registered trademark of QUALCOMM Incorporated. Used under license.

Contact Information

Phone: [phone]

Sales Desk:

Post:

Technical Support:

RMA Support:

Web:

Hours: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time

Contact:

Sierra Wireless
13811 Wireless Way
Richmond, BC
Canada V6V 3A4

[e-mail]

[e-mail]

Fax: [phone]

http://www.sierrawireless.com/

http://www.sierrawireless.com/sales

Consult our website for up-to-date product descriptions, documentation, application notes, firmware
upgrades, troubleshooting tips, and press releases: www.sierrawireless.com

4117047 Rev 2.2 December 18, 2015 3

Product Technical Specification

Document History

Version Date Updates

1.0 May 20, 2015 Creation

Updated:

 1 Introduction
 Error! Reference source not found. Error! Reference source

not found.

1.1 May 29, 2015

2.0 December 02, 2015

2.1 December 10, 2015 Updated Table 8 Current Consumption (at nominal voltage, 3.7V)

2.2 December 18, 2015 Updated Chapter 7 Regulatory Legal Information

 Error! Reference source not found. Error! Reference source

not found.

 Error! Reference source not found. Error! Reference source

not found.

Deleted 4.1 Model Views

Added Error! Reference source not found. Error! Reference source
not found.

Updated:

 Table 1 Supported Bands/Connectivity
 1.2 Physical Dimensions
 Table 2 General Features
 Table 3 ESD Specifications
 1.9 Environmental and Certifications
 Error! Reference source not found. Error! Reference source

not found.

 Table 5 Power Supply
 2.4 Current DC Power Consumption
 Error! Reference source not found. Error! Reference source

not found.

 Error! Reference source not found. Error! Reference source

not found.

 Error! Reference source not found. Error! Reference source

not found.

 Error! Reference source not found. Error! Reference source  Error! Reference source not found. Error! Reference source

not found.

Deleted HSIC

4117047 Rev 2.2 December 18, 2015 4

Contents

1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 9

1.1. Common Flexible Form Factor (CF3) ............................................................................... 9

1.2. Physical Dimensions ..................................................................................................... 10

1.3. General Features .......................................................................................................... 10

1.4. Encryption Support ........................................................................................................ 13

1.5. Architecture ................................................................................................................... 13

1.6. Interfaces ...................................................................................................................... 14

1.7. Connection Interface ..................................................................................................... 14

1.8. ESD .............................................................................................................................. 15

1.9. Environmental and Certifications ................................................................................... 15

1.9.1. Environmental Specifications ................................................................................. 15

1.9.2. Regulatory ............................................................................................................. 16

1.9.3. RoHS Directive Compliant ..................................................................................... 16

1.9.4. Disposing of the Product ........................................................................................ 16

1.10. References .................................................................................................................... 16

2. DETAILED INTERFACE SPECIFICATIONS ....................................................... 17

2.1. Power Supply ................................................................................................................ 17

2.1.1. Electrical Characteristics ........................................................................................ 17

2.1.2. Pin Description ....................................................................................................... 17

2.1.3. Burst Transmission Current Requirements ............................................................ 18

2.1.4. Power Input (VBATT) ............................................................................................. 19

2.2. Ground Connection ....................................................................................................... 19

2.3. Decoupling of Power Supply Signals ............................................................................. 19

2.4. Current DC Power Consumption ................................................................................... 20

2.5. VGPIO ........................................................................................................................... 22

2.5.1. Electrical Characteristics ........................................................................................ 22

2.5.2. Pin Description ....................................................................................................... 22

2.6. BAT_RTC ...................................................................................................................... 2 2 

2.6.1. Electrical Characteristics ........................................................................................ 23

2.6.2. Pin Description ....................................................................................................... 23

2.7. SIM Interface ................................................................................................................. 23

2.7.1. Electrical Characteristics ........................................................................................ 24

2.7.2. Pin Description ....................................................................................................... 24

2.7.3. UIM1_DET ............................................................................................................. 25

2.7.4. Application ............................................................................................................. 25

2.8. USB .............................................................................................................................. 26

2.8.1. Electrical Characteristics ........................................................................................ 26

2.8.2. Pin Description ....................................................................................................... 26

2.9. Electrical Information I/O ............................................................................................... 26

4117047 Rev 2.2 December 18, 2015 5

Product Technical Specification

2.10. General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) .......................................................................... 27

2.11. Main Serial Link (UART1) .............................................................................................. 28

2.11.1. Pin Description ....................................................................................................... 28

2.11.2. 8-wire Application ................................................................................................... 29

2.11.3. 4-wire Application ................................................................................................... 29

2.11.4. 2-wire Application ................................................................................................... 29

2.12. POWER ON Signal (PWR_ON_N) ................................................................................ 30

2.13. Reset Signal (RESET_IN_N) ........................................................................................ 30

3. DESIGN GUIDELINES ......................................................................................... 32

3.1. Power-Up Sequence ..................................................................................................... 32

3.2. Module Switch-Off ......................................................................................................... 32

3.3. Emergency Power OFF ................................................................................................. 33

3.4. Sleep Mode Management ............................................................................................. 33

3.4.1. Using UART ........................................................................................................... 33

3.4.2. Using USB ............................................................................................................. 33

3.5. Power Supply Design .................................................................................................... 34

3.6. ESD Guidelines for SIM Card ........................................................................................ 34

3.7. ESD Guidelines for USB ............................................................................................... 35

3.8. Dual SIM Application ..................................................................................................... 35

3.9. Radio Frequency Integration ......................................................................................... 36

4. REGULATORY LEGAL INFORMATION ............................................................. 37

4.1. Label ............................................................................................................................. 37

4.2. FCC Regulations ........................................................................................................... 37

4.3. RF Exposure Information .............................................................................................. 38

4.4. IC Regulations ............................................................................................................... 38

4.5. CE Warning ................................................................................................................... 3 9 

5. TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................... 40

4117047 Rev 2.2 December 18, 2015 6

List of Figures

Figure 1. Architecture Overview ................................................................................................... 13

Figure 2. Mechanical Overview .................................................................................................... 14

Figure 3. Power Supply During Burst Transmission ..................................................................... 18

Figure 4. Power Supply Requirements ......................................................................................... 19

Figure 5. Power Supply Voltage Drops Shapes During Burst Transmission ................................. 20

Figure 6. UIM1 Application Reference Schematic ........................................................................ 25

Figure 7. 8-wire UART Application Example ................................................................................ 29

Figure 8. 4-wire UART Application Example ................................................................................ 29

Figure 9. 2-wire UART Application Example ................................................................................ 29

Figure 10. PWR_ON_N Assertion Time ......................................................................................... 30

Figure 11. PWR_ON_N Sequence with VGPIO Information .......................................................... 32

Figure 12. PWR_ON_N Sequence with T

Figure 13. Power OFF Sequence for PWR_ON_N, VGPIO ........................................................... 33

Figure 14. Voltage Limiter Example ............................................................................................... 34

Figure 15. EMC and ESD Components Close to the SIM .............................................................. 34

Figure 16. ESD Protection for USB ................................................................................................ 35

Figure 17. Reference Design for Dual SIM Application .................................................................. 35

Figure 18. GSM Antenna Connection with Antenna Detection ....................................................... 36

.............................................................................. 32

rampup

4117047 Rev 2.2 December 18, 2015 7

List of Tables

Table 1. Supported Bands/Connectivity ........................................................................................ 9

Table 2. General Features .......................................................................................................... 10

Table 3. ESD Specifications ........................................................................................................ 15

Table 4. Environmental Specifications ........................................................................................ 15

Table 5. Power Supply ................................................................................................................ 17

Table 6. Power Supply Pin Description ....................................................................................... 17

Table 7. Radio Burst Rates – Connected Mode .......................................................................... 18

Table 8. Current Consumption (at nominal voltage, 3.7V) ........................................................... 20

Table 9. Current Consumption per Power Supply (VBATT_PA and VBATT) .............................. 21

Table 10. VGPIO Electrical Characteristics ................................................................................... 22

Table 11. VGPIO Pin Description .................................................................................................. 22

Table 12. BAT_RTC Electrical Characteristics .............................................................................. 23

Table 13. BAT_RTC Pin Description ............................................................................................. 23

Table 14. Electrical Characteristics of UIM1.................................................................................. 24

Table 15. UIM1 Pin Description .................................................................................................... 24

Table 16. USIM Socket Pin Description ........................................................................................ 25

Table 17. Electrical Characteristics of USB ................................................................................... 26

Table 18. USB Pin Description ...................................................................................................... 26

Table 19. Digital I/O Electrical Characteristics .............................................................................. 26

Table 20. GPIO Pin Description .................................................................................................... 27

Table 21. UART1 Pin Description ................................................................................................. 28

Table 22. PWR_ON_N Electrical Characteristics .......................................................................... 30

Table 23. RESET_IN_N Electrical Characteristics ........................................................................ 31

Table 24. AirPrime HL852x FCC IDs ............................................................................................ 37

Table 25. AirPrime HL852x IC ...................................................................................................... 39

4117047 Rev 2.2 December 18, 2015 8

1. Introduction

This document is the Product Technical Specification for the AirPrime HL8518, HL8528 and HL8529
Embedded Modules. It defines high level features and illustrates the interfaces for these features. This
document is intended to cover hardware aspects, including electrical and mechanical, of the AirPrime
HL8518, HL8528 and HL8529.

The AirPrime HL8518, HL8528 and HL8529 modules belong to the AirPrime HL Series from the
Essential Connectivity Module family. These are industrial grade Embedded Wireless Modules that
provide voice and data connectivity on GPRS, EDGE RX, WCDMA, HSDPA and HSUPA networks
(as listed in Table 1 Supported Bands/Connectivity).

The HL8518, HL8528 and HL8529 modules support a large variety of interfaces such as Digital Audio,
GPIOs and UART to provide customers with the highest level of flexibility in implementing high-end
solutions.

Table 1. Supported Bands/Connectivity

RF Band

UMTS B1 1922 to1978 MHz 2112 to 2168 MHz

UMTS B2 1852 to 1908 MHz 1932 to 1988 MHz

UMTS B5 826 to 847 MHz 871 to 892 MHz

UMTS B8 882 to 913 MHz 927 to 958 MHz

GSM 850 824 to 849 MHz 869 to 894 MHz

E-GSM 900 880 to 915 MHz 925 to 960 MHz

DCS 1800 1710 to 1785 MHz 1805 to 1880 MHz

PCS 1900 1850 to 1910 MHz 1930 to 1990 MHz

Transmit band
(Tx)

Receive band
(Rx)

HL8518









HL8528

HL8529

 

 





1.1. Common Flexible Form Factor (CF3)

The AirPrime HL8518, HL8528 and HL8529 belong to the Common Flexible Form Factor (CF3)
family of modules. This family consists of a series of WWAN modules that share the same mechanical
dimensions (same width and length with varying thicknesses) and footprint. The CF
provides a unique solution to a series of problems faced commonly in the WWAN module space as it:

 Accommodates multiple radio technologies (from 2G to LTE advanced) and band groupings

 Supports bit-pipe (Essential Module Series) and value add (Smart Module Series) solutions

 Offers electrical and functional compatibility

 Provides Direct Mount as well Socketability depending on customer needs

3

form factor

4117047 Rev 2.2 December 18, 2015 9

Product Technical Specification Introduction

1.2. Physical Dimensions

The AirPrime HL8518, HL8528 and HL8529 modules are compact, robust, fully shielded modules with
the following dimensions:

 Length: 23 mm

 Width: 22 mm

 Thickness: 2.5 mm

 Weight: 2.65 g

Note: Dimensions specified above are typical values.

1.3. General Features

The table below summarizes the AirPrime HL8518, HL8528 and HL8529 features.

Table 2. General Features

Feature Description

 Small form factor (146-pin solderable LGA pad) – 23mm x 22mm x 2.5mm

(nominal)

Physical

Electrical Single or double supply voltage (VBATT and VBATT_PA) – 3.2V – 4.5V

RF

Audio interface

 Metal shield can

 RF connection pad

 Baseband signals connection

HL8518 (dual-band UMTS and dual-band GSM):

 UMTS B1

 UMTS B8

 E-GSM 900

 DCS 1800

HL8528 (dual-band UMTS and dual-band GSM):

 UMTS B2

 UMTS B5

 GSM 850

 PCS 1900

HL8529 (dual-band UMTS):

 UMTS B2

 UMTS B5

 Digital interface (ONLY)

 Supports Enhanced Full Rate (EFR), Full Rate (FR), Half Rate (HR), and

both Narrow-Band and Wide-band Adaptive Multirate (AMR-NB and AMR­WB) vocoders

 MO and MT calling

 Echo cancellation and noise reduction

 Emergency calls (112, 110, 911, etc.)

 Incoming call notification

 DTMF generation

4117047 Rev 2.2 December 18, 2015 10

Product Technical Specification Introduction

Feature Description

 Dual SIM Single Standby (DSSS) with fast network switching capability

 1.8V/3V support

SIM interface

Application interface

Protocol Stack

 SIM extraction / hot plug detection

 SIM/USIM support

 Conforms with ETSI UICC Specifications.

 Supports SIM application tool kit with proactive SIM commands

 NDIS NIC interface support (Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows

CE, Linux)

 Multiple non-multiplexed USB channel support

 Dial-up networking

 USB selective suspend to maximize power savings

 CMUX multiplexing over UART

 AT command interface – 3GPP 27.007 standard, plus proprietary extended

AT commands

Dual-mode UMTS (WCDMA) / HSDPA / HSUPA / EDGE RX / GPRS / GSM
operation

 GSM/GPRS/EDGE RX

 GPRS Class 12
 EDGE RX
 CSD (Circuit-switched data bearers)
 Release 4 GERAN Feature Package 1
 SAIC / DARP Phase 1
 Latency Reduction
 Repeated FACCH and Repeated SACCH
 GPRS ROHC
 Enhanced Operator Name String (EONS)
 Enhanced Network Selection (ENS)

 WCDMA

 3GPP WCDMA FDD Multimode Type II UE Protocol Stack
 Configurable for data classes up to 384 kBit/s
 Inter-RAT Handover and Cell Reselection
 Supports two types of Compressed Mode
 Network Assisted Cell Change from UTRAN to GERAN and GERAN to

UTRAN

 CSD (Circuit-switched data bearers) over WCDMA (transparent/non

transparent up to 64 kBit/s; Support for Video Telephony)

 HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access)

 Compliant with 3GPP Release 5
 HSDPA Category 8 data rate – 7.2 Mbps (peak rate)
 IPv6 support

 HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access)

 Compliant with 3GPP Release 6
 HSUPA Category 6 data rate - 5.76 Mbps (peak rate)
 Robust Header Compression (RoHC)

 Fractional DPCH

4117047 Rev 2.2 December 18, 2015 11

Product Technical Specification Introduction

Feature Description

 HSPA+ (Evolved High Speed Packet Access)

 Compliant with 3GPP Release 7
 Higher-Order Modulation (HOM)

Protocol Stack

SMS

Supplementary
Services

Connectivity

Operating temperature ranges (industrial grade):

Environmental

 MAC-ehs support
 Continuous Packet Connectivity (CPC)
 Enhanced F-DPCH
 Enhanced Cell FACH
 Circuit Switched Voice over HSPA

 SMS MO and MT

 CS and PS support

 SMS saving to SIM card or ME storage

 SMS reading from SIM card or ME storage

 SMS sorting

 SMS concatenation

 SMS Status Report

 SMS replacement support

 SMS storing rules (support of AT+CNMI, AT+CNMA)

 Call Barring

 Call Forwarding

 Call Hold

 Caller ID

 Call Waiting

 Multi-party service

 USSD

 Automatic answer

 Multiple (up to 20) cellular packet data profiles

 Sleep mode for minimum idle power draw

 Automatic GPRS attach at power-up

 GPRS detach

 Mobile-originated PDP context activation / deactivation

 Support QoS profile

 Release 97 – Precedence Class, Reliability Class, Delay Class, Peak

Throughput, Mean Throughput

 Release 99 QoS negotiation – Background, Interactive, and Streaming

 Static and Dynamic IP address. The network may assign a fixed IP address

or dynamically assign one using DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol).

 Supports PAP and CHAP authentication protocols

 PDP context type (IPv4, IPv6, IPv4v6). IP Packet Data Protocol context

 RFC1144 TCP/IP header compression

 Interaction with existing GSM services (MO/MT SMS voice calls) while:

 GPRS is attached, or
 In a GPRS data session (class B GPRS suspend / resume procedures)

 Class A: -30°C to +70°C



Class B: -40°C to +85°C

4117047 Rev 2.2 December 18, 2015 12

Product Technical Specification Introduction

Feature Description

RTC Real Time Clock (RTC) with calendar and alarm

Temperature Sensor

 Temperature monitoring

 Alarms

1.4. Encryption Support

The AirPrime HL8518, HL8528 and HL8529 supports the following encryption algorithms:

 Ciphering algorithms A51, A52 and A53

 GEA1/GEA2 and GEA3 algorithm for GPRS encryption

 Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) with programmable polynomial

 UMTS confidentiality algorithm f8 for message ciphering (Kasumi based UEA1)

 UMTS integrity algorithm f9 for message authentication (Kasumi based UIA1 and SNOW 3G

based UIA2)

1.5. Architecture

The figure below presents an overview of the AirPrime HL8518, HL8528 and HL8529 modules
internal architecture and external interfaces.

AirPrime HL8518, HL8528 and HL8529

26MHz

VBATT

GND

VGPIO
BAT_RTC
GPIO x 12

ADC x2

UART1 (8pins)

Debug (2pins)

JTAG

2

6

M

_

C

K

L

O

32K_CLKOUT

SIM1

RESET_IN_N

TP1

PWR_ON_N

PWM x 2

2G_TX_ON

USB

PCM

SAW

Filters

TX_2G

_

3

G

B2-PCS/B5-

Transceiver

3G
PA

RX_DCS

RX_2G
RX_3G

T

X

Baseband

MCU DSP

U

T

PMU RF

Analog Baseband

Peripherals

Isoplexer

B1/B8-

GSM900

Or

GSM850

Or

B2/B5

RX_DCS

RF

2G PA

+

Antenna

Switch

RF

RF

Memory

(Flash + RAM)

32.768KHz

Figure 1. Architecture Overview

4117047 Rev 2.2 December 18, 2015 13